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City of El Monte · Statewide General Election

Mayor of El Monte

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person is El Monte's directly elected chief executive and presiding officer — one vote on the 5-member City Council that sets the budget and land-use policy, plus ceremonial and administrative duties day to day. A 2-year term, the shortest of any El Monte elected office; day-to-day city operations run through an appointed city manager.

El Monte elects its Mayor citywide, and this cycle pits incumbent Jessica Ancona against her own Mayor Pro Tem, Viviana Longoria, plus a third candidate, Christine R. Sarmiento. There's no June primary for city offices — all three go straight to the November 3 ballot, and whoever gets the most votes wins outright.

The winner takes a 2-year term — the shortest on El Monte's ballot — presiding over City Council meetings and representing the city publicly, while casting one of five votes on the budget, land use, and city ordinances alongside four district councilmembers. Day-to-day city operations run through an appointed city manager, not the Mayor's office.

This is a rematch within one governing team: Longoria serves as Ancona's own Mayor Pro Tem, so the choice turns less on ideology than on how each has used her current office — and how much weight you give a June 2025 censure of the incumbent over a settled lawsuit — against a third candidate with no local record to weigh.

Jessica Ancona

Jessica Ancona is the incumbent Mayor, a lifelong El Monte resident and high school assistant principal first elected to the City Council in 2018 after five years on the El Monte City School District board. She's seeking a second term, pointing to a youth-focused tobacco and vape ordinance and school joint-use agreements from her council years. In June 2025 the City Council censured her 6-1 after the city paid $175,000 to settle a resident's lawsuit alleging retaliation.

Strengths

Citywide incumbency, an 8-year council and school-board record, and specific policy wins — a youth tobacco/vape ordinance and school joint-use green-space agreements.

Trade-offs

A June 2025 council censure, 6-1, followed a $175,000 city settlement of a resident's lawsuit alleging retaliation and intimidation.

Keep in mind

Ancona took responsibility for 'a misstep' but denied sending a gang member and called the censure political; she also voted against studying whether to end citywide mayoral elections.

Viviana Longoria

Viviana Longoria is the sitting Mayor Pro Tem and District 4 councilmember, a Head Start child-development specialist who served as City Treasurer before winning her council seat in 2024. She's running for Mayor on public safety and economic development, framing herself as building on the city's current fiscal approach rather than breaking from it. She now holds the Mayor Pro Tem title the very incumbent she's challenging helped confer on her.

Strengths

Two terms as City Treasurer before her 2024 council win give her the field's only elected-finance record, plus the council's own Mayor Pro Tem title.

Trade-offs

Just one year on the council and no citywide executive record; her stated priorities read as continuity with Ancona's approach more than a break from it.

Keep in mind

As Mayor Pro Tem she has worked directly under the incumbent she's now challenging — weigh that as insider knowledge or as a break with a colleague. No controversies surfaced in coverage of her.

Christine R. Sarmiento

Christine R. Sarmiento is a Los Angeles County public health nurse from El Monte with no prior elected office or council experience. She's running for Mayor months after an unsuccessful independent run for California Governor in the June 2026 primary, campaigning on similar affordability and accountability themes. No local platform, endorsements, or news coverage specific to her El Monte candidacy were found beyond the city's own candidate-qualification record.

Strengths

A public-health nursing career — COVID-19 vaccination command posts, Skid Row outreach — is a genuine record of public service, even outside elected office.

Trade-offs

No prior campaign for local office and no coverage found of an El Monte-specific platform for this race.

Keep in mind

Her only public candidacy record is a June 2026 run for Governor that didn't advance past the primary; nothing distinctly local to El Monte has surfaced for this race.

Source review: Strong (88/100) · 11 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • ci.el-monte.ca.us (opens in a new tab)City of El Monte — Notice of Election, November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election (one Mayor at-large, 2-yr term; Council Districts 2, 3, 6; City Clerk and City Treasurer at-large — all four 4-yr terms)
  • ci.el-monte.ca.us (opens in a new tab)City of El Monte — Interested Candidate List, Status of Candidate Pulling & Filing Nomination Papers (current through the extended Aug. 12, 2026 filing deadline; all three Mayor filers reached 'Date Qualified')
  • ci.el-monte.ca.us (opens in a new tab)City of El Monte — FAQ: 'What are the names of the Mayor and Members of the City Council?' (names Mayor Jessica Ancona, Mayor Pro Tem Viviana Longoria, and the rest of the sitting council)
  • ci.el-monte.ca.us (opens in a new tab)City of El Monte — Mayor Jessica Ancona (official biography: elected Nov. 2024, 2-yr term; prior El Monte City Council since 2018 and El Monte City School District governing board 2013-2018; career educator)
  • ci.el-monte.ca.us (opens in a new tab)City of El Monte — Mayor Pro Tem Viviana Longoria, District 4 (official biography page: elected to Council Nov. 2024, term expires Nov. 2028)
  • foxla.com (opens in a new tab)FOX 11 Los Angeles (KTTV) — El Monte Mayor under fire over retaliation scandal (City Council censures Ancona 6-1 after a $175,000 settlement of a resident's retaliation lawsuit; Ancona took responsibility but denied sending a gang member and called the censure political)
  • sgvtribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Gabriel Valley Tribune (Southern California News Group) — Viviana Longoria, El Monte City Council District 4 candidate, 2024 election questionnaire (career, then-current City Treasurer role, and stated priorities in her own words)
  • sgvtribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Gabriel Valley Tribune (Southern California News Group) — El Monte City Council tables vote on making city clerk, city treasurer, mayor appointed roles (unanimous Feb. 25, 2026 vote to indefinitely table the restructuring; effort never reached the Nov. 2026 ballot)
  • midvalleynews.com (opens in a new tab)The Mid Valley News — Council Advances Plan to Restructure Offices (names the Jan. 14, 2026 5-2 council vote to begin outreach on eliminating the elected Mayor/Clerk/Treasurer offices, with Ancona and Herrera voting no; superseded by the SGV Tribune's Feb. 25, 2026 tabling)
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)CA Secretary of State — Cal-Access certified 2026 primary candidate list, Governor (lists 'SARMIENTO, CHRISTINE R.' as a no-party-preference candidate — the same full name and middle initial as the El Monte Mayor filer, corroborating she is a real, previously-statewide candidate, not a name coincidence)
  • philippinechronicle.com (opens in a new tab)Philippine Chronicle (syndicated from the Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network) — Filipino American nurse launches bid for California governor (profiles Christine Sarmiento, an El Monte-based LA County Dept. of Public Health nurse, ahead of her June 2026 gubernatorial run)

Last updated August 31, 2026.